The Daily Lard 12-20-11

Douglas LeeDec 20, 2011 7:30 AM

Good Morning, Broncos fans! The official playoff scenarios haven't been released by the league yet (that's supposed to happen today), but it appears a Denver win at Buffalo combined with an Oakland loss or tie at KC would clinch the AFC West for the Broncos. And according to Stuart Zaas, the Broncos can also clinch a wild card spot on Saturday by beating the Bills, plus losses or ties by the Titans, Jets and Bengals.

The Niners beat the Steelers 20-3 last night in a game delayed twice by a power outage, and Ben Roethlisberger turned it over four times (three picks, one fumble). Big Ben played with a brace on his high ankle sprain (on his left/plant leg) but was apparently not hobbled. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers play Roethlisberger the next two weeks, although presumably they will since they still have a shot at both the AFC North title, the #1 or #2 seed and a first-round bye. The loss for Pittsburgh keeps Baltimore ahead of them in the standings (by virtue of sweeping the Steelers earlier in the season) and increases the likelihood that the Broncos would end up hosting the Steelers in the Wild Card round, should Denver win the AFC West.

So, if Big Ben plays the next two games but Baltimore hangs on for the division title, the Broncos would likely be facing a more faithful but less mobile Roethlisberger in the playoffs. Hmm. Before we get carried away, let's get to the links.

Broncos

Charles Pierce finds it ridiculous that folks claim it's inappropriate to question or criticize Tim Tebow's vocal piety, especially when he has willingly aligned himself with a bigotry-promoting hate group. He also points out that the sect of Christianity that Tebow belongs to clashes quite strongly with the rest of Christianity.

In his latest mailbag, Mike Klis lays out a couple of ideas for going with Tebow next year and backing him up, plus he thinks Kyle Orton may have earned himself a big payday by beating the Pack.

So last week the story was that the Denver receivers suck, and now it's that Demaryius Thomas has the most receiving yards of any receiver in the league over the past three weeks (18 catches, 338 yards). Hilarious.

Magic Sam is hopeful that at least now everyone can ease up on the Tebow talk.

Jeff Legwold says the Broncos have struggled mightily in defending the run with their nickel package. Plus, he says Denver was outclassed on Sunday and he looks forward to their matchup with the Bills.

Trimmings

The injury to Pats DE Andre Carter on Sunday ended his season. Meanwhile, Green Bay lost T Derek Sherrod for the year with a broken leg, and T Bryan Bulaga sprained a knee and is unlikely to play this week. Bears WR Johnny Knox and Bucs CB Aqib Talib are also done.

Jason La Canfora says the jobs of Steve Spagnuolo and Raheem Morris are safe for at least this week.

Mike Freeman is hearing that De Smith could end up leaving the NFLPA should they not pay him a bonus he thinks he's due.

Mark Cuban thinks there will be an openly gay NBA player within the next few years, and he thinks the league's players would handle it well. How would the NFL react to the same? In case you see this as a religious issue, please head back to that Charles Pierce article for a refresher.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

Just re-read Pierce's article, more closely this time, and it's even stupider than I thought. Again, I'm one to be inclined to agree with the designation of hate groups, and I respect the SPLC. But look at what Pierce actually wrote here:

"He put his business in the street that way, and he did so by allying himself with the softer side of a movement that contains other organizations that the Southern Poverty Law Center, which knows about this stuff, recently designated as hate groups."

Got that? "the softer side of a movement"... "that contains other organizations"... I mean, he's not saying that Tebow's religious group was designated as a hate group. What's more, he's not even saying that Tebow's religious group has allied itself with a hate group. The SPLC didn't designate Focus On The Family as a hate group. He's saying that Tebow's religious group has allied itself with the "softer side" of a "movement" that "contains" some hate groups.

I mean, talk about yellow writing. That's not even guilt by association. That's like guilt by association, twice removed. I think it's pretty disgusting to paint with that broad of a brush. I mean, we could probably play a game on identifying other people that fit that criteria. For instance, Spencer Larson (Mormon) has allied himself with the softer side of a movement (Mormonism) that contains other organizations that the SPLC, which knows about this stuff, recently designated as hate groups (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints). Ryan Harris (Muslim) has allied himself with the softer side of a movement (Islam) that contains other organizations that the SPLC designated as hate groups (Nation Of Islam). Et cetera.Posted by tunesmith on 2011-12-20 20:43:51

Commenting to inform that new comments sometimes get put a the top and then reloaded to the bottom of the page when the page is refreshed.Posted by nightshifte on 2011-12-20 20:17:14

I'm going to be "not very nice" in this comment. I don't normally get into it on this type of topic because, well, it's normally worthless on the internet. But I read the Pierce article yesterday on Grantland, before it got linked here.

Pierce is an idiot. He displays something verging on bigotry in the piece. While it's legitimate to question what Tebow actually says and does, Pierce decided to never even touch it. He uses guilty by non-association and then implication that Tebow is some creature of hate. It's shoddy work upon shoddy work. If I was the editor there, I'd have never run the piece and fired him.

The sad part is the first part of the article is pretty good, but it's the ending that goes off the rails and displays Pierce's own assumptions, stupidity and complete lack of knowledge of the subjects at hand. (He somehow gets that there are differences between subsets of Christianity, then promptly ignores this fact when it's useful to pull of a smear job. Oh, and he apparently knows nothing about fairly basic theology, yet he wants to comment on it.)

Oh, and he also judiciously used Strawmen arguments. I've yet to see any mainstream opinion writers say Tebow's religion is out of bounds. What's out of bounds is what Pierce is trying to do, which is exactly why Christians tend to not get out in front of the public. Why did Warner and Rodgers warn against what Tebow was doing? Easy, you get idiots like Pierce smearing you on respectable publications. That's the worry and why it's rarely worth the trouble.

As for the SPLC, like Amnesty International and a few other important groups from the 70s & 80s, they've become nothing but left-wing activist groups. It's how they get their money and it's exactly how they operate. No one that's involved in the area bothers to even listen to the SPLC anymore as they really don't even serve a purpose anymore. (And, yes, by their own definition, they are a "hate group", which is why it doesn't mean anything anymore. They've done violence to the utility of the moniker.)

Oh, and Ted, I expect better. The issue with the New Black Panther Party wasn't that they were a "hate group". It's wholly the fact that the Justice Department of the United States voided a judgement against members of the group for voter intimidation, after it was already accepted. Which, by Pierce's logic, means that the Justice Department is now a "hate group". That's just how far into stupidity the Pierce piece descends.

As for the late, great Christopher Hitchens, the reason he was so well respected? Aside from being a better writer, he displayed a level of understanding that Pierce badly needs to find. Actually, Hitchens would have ripped this type of piece to shreds.

Maybe "Idiot America" is a good book, but, from what Pierce has written on Grantland (I've read a few other pieces he's done), I have to wonder if it's an autobiography.Posted by OutInOregon on 2011-12-20 19:22:01

Tebow is a kid.

Tough to expect him to have a comprehensive world view. His life has been lived in a controlled cocoon of spiritual teachings and adoration from others.

The world is a mad house. We all create our own little universe to dwell in. Let the kid do his thing. Could be so, so much worse.

I really hope he plays at a high level for years to come, and I don't waste much energy sweating the huge chasm that exists between his existential views and mine.

Posted by John Rasmussen on 2011-12-20 19:09:56

Test...Posted by wb_curtis on 2011-12-20 18:32:26

I'm in Pierce's target market but I think he strained also. I mean, he acts as if he has some kind of investigative insight on what Tebow's religion is REALLY doing, but his evidence is just the group's mission statement? For the point he was trying to make, he needed more - like interviews, or on the ground stories, or something like that. Seems like it's a case of trying to invent smoke without knowing if there's fire.Posted by tunesmith on 2011-12-20 17:29:13

The thing that makes the SPLC silly is that the standard that they are using to label FOF as a hate group also makes the SPLC a hate group. I would agree that by their definition, " hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people" FOF is a hate group. However by labeling them that SPLC has also become a hate group by maligning evangelical christians.

What they're really doing is redefining how we would normally use the term hate group. It's the kind of tactic that currently making it so difficult to actually have a discussion in the United States right now.

Also since when is a sportswriter some kind of authority on religion? If people would stop thinking that they're some kind of expert on how all things divine work just because they took some philosophy class in high school that would help out a lot. So often it's just like this article judgmental because they think differently, filled with straw men, and completely devoid of so many of the lessons that serious thinkers have learned from history.

Fools rush in after allPosted by David Endorf on 2011-12-20 14:02:55

Just postedPosted by magster on 2011-12-20 13:10:05

Doug - Did you guys do a Chewing the Fat from the Patriots game?Posted by DavidInLA on 2011-12-20 13:07:53

Doug - Did you guys do a Chewing the Fat from the Patriots game?Posted by David Dan on 2011-12-20 13:04:10

David, wanted to let you know I just got a call from Cutler and he is having trouble setting up his new account. He couldn't figure how to type with the thumb and ended up breaking a finger on the other hand overcompensating. He also forgot how to spell his first name. He eventually gave up and is now staring sullenly into space. I'm sure he would appreciate any assistance you could provide.Posted by ohiobronco on 2011-12-20 13:00:59

I used to be a big fan of SPLC for all the good work they had done exposing hate groups. But in the last few years they have started putting people and organizations on their "hate" list for policy disagreements (I'm not referring to the FOF here). It was at that point I felt they had jumped the shark.

As for the article...the author makes a strained effort to tarnish Tebow, too much in my opinion.Posted by Alan Smithee on 2011-12-20 12:55:40

Is this on? Does this work? What's the meaning of life, really?Posted by Gristle McThornbody on 2011-12-20 12:50:45

It goes to the bottom unless you are replying to someone...Posted by magster on 2011-12-20 12:39:02

Since new comments are no longer added to the bottom, is there a way to identify them to prevent having to scan through all the comments to find them, and having to remember which comments were there on the previous visit? Thanks.Posted by CompUser on 2011-12-20 12:37:21

Trying out new comments....

While I think Pierce had the right intentions in writing the article and at a high-level, I can agree with his points, the way he attempted to prove his points was pretty poor and disappointing. I felt dumber after reading the article.

I was formerly known as studbucket, but I think I'll just leave my twitter handle.Posted by JT Kimbell on 2011-12-20 12:29:27

Lets see if this change worked....nope. Trying again.Posted by Alan Smithee on 2011-12-20 12:13:21

Just discovered Disquss doesn't like iPads, and it won't allow registration on the fly...

Whitlock and Pierce make the mistake of extrapolating an entertainment spectacle into actual societal issues. Both end up exposing their biases, and in Whitlock's case, their ignorance.

Whitlock of course ignores the small fact that the NFL operates under a cartel exemption that most other businesses cannot. Ignoring the cartel aspect also lets him ignore the fact that there were a large majority of US corporations that operated under exactly the same degree of collussion during the 19th century, the income disparities then were even worse than now. In addition, the ability of the NFL to have labor agreements to operate as a trust came about because of the cartel and trust busting laws of the early 20th century.

Pierce of course picks at the scab of devisiveness a little more. It looks like he is trying to emulate Hitchens, but his logic comes off as soft and flabby (though, to be honest. most will when compared to Hitchens). In claiming Tebow had a choice about his religion, Pierce ignores the years of study that show children overwhelmingly accept their parental religion, and true conversions are more likely in their late 20's. Besides, it looks like Pierce is just upset about the bully platform Tebow has. That said. Pierce does have a point that certain sects cross the line into being hate groups (Westbourough, anyone?) and are protected from prosecution solely by their "Christian" affiliation (Christian in quotes, as their interpertation is widely out of the mainstream Christian ethos).

Finally, to bring this back to matters of importance: When Fox went ultra conservative after the first quarter, was he planning for a possible meeting with the Pats in the playoffs? He learned the game plan would work, so put the rest under wraps and wait until we need it in the AFC Championship game?

Posted by DCJ1 on 2011-12-20 12:06:21

I hate to even ask this, after less than one full season, but is Father Time catching Willis in the open field? I sure hope not, but he is on the wrong side of 30. Still have high hopes for Mario Fannin after he heals up, but I hope Willis has a few years left in the tank, since he was used sparingly (smartly?) in Baltimore.Which leads to putting the cart way before the horse, but I can see Willis being WAY fired up to face Baltimore in the playoffs. (Cue the chants of "Playoffs!??!")Posted by ncm42 on 2011-12-20 11:56:55

Ummmm....is this thing on?Posted by ncm42 on 2011-12-20 11:54:51

test test test

Posted by Gristle McThornbody on 2011-12-20 11:26:32

The McGahee injury really has me bothered. The offense is so much better with a healthy McGahee. Excluding the Dolphins game where Tebow was just so horrible, the games where Denver played well (Oakland, the first drive in KC, SD, Minnesota, the first quarter of NE) McGahee was awesome. The games Denver struggled on offense (Jets, the rest of KC game, Chicago, the rest of NE game) McGahee was sidelined or playing injured. Just don't see us being succesful if we don't get McGahee healthy.

I'm thinking we should rest McGahee for Buffalo since the KC game is more important if Oakland and San Diego win. I'd hate putting all the eggs in that basket but Buffalo is bad enough we might beat them anyway, and resting McGahee might be a risk worth taking if it means he'd be healthier for the playoffs too.Posted by magster on 2011-12-20 11:12:16

Alan_Smithee1 While your username may be taken, if you edit your profile you can put whatever you want into "Full Name", and that will appear here (or anywhere you use Disqus).

SpaceCowboyInLG I had to change my emails a few times to get all of my comments out there (as I have a few addresses), but then changed back to the one I wanted and I'm set now.

Oh - and if you haven't figured it out, you can @ someone now, too.Posted by David Singer on 2011-12-20 11:02:57

O&B, you inspired me to change my avatar!Posted by Ralph_W on 2011-12-20 10:57:50

Similar issue here. My handle was already taken.Posted by Alan_Smithee1 on 2011-12-20 10:47:04

testtesttest...

HEY!

Posted by Gristle McThornbody on 2011-12-20 10:44:35

Of course it's objective, left = objective, right = hate. Its the easiest and most effective way to deal with someone you disagree with, just label them and then mock them. You can even pretty much fit them all into one of these categories: Sexist, Islamophobic, Xenophobic, Homophobic, Racist, Intolerant or Bigoted.

If you discount someone as a person, then you don't have to deal with their argument. Evidently, even someone as authoritative as Charles Pierce touts this in his excellent book.Posted by pubkeeper on 2011-12-20 10:28:31

I've been thinking Steelers for last few weeks as well. Bout time we pay them back for that AFC championship game in 06. Revenge is best served cold, at high altitude.

Wouldn't worry about Tebow's game in the snow. It's all about the run game, and we're best in the league at that right now! :)Posted by broncosmontana on 2011-12-20 10:28:27

Well, it has been cold in Denver for several of his games, but they don't get much snow down in Florida, so I don't think he has a ton of experience playing in the snowPosted by SpaceCowboyInLG on 2011-12-20 10:14:11

I am fairly certain that unless Tebow begins to call out and be a bigot in public, or heck even in private, then what religion he aligns himself with isn't that big of a deal, because while he will always give thanks THLAS, he isn't going on any tirades about morality that is specific to anything else.

As a Catholic my religion my have certain beliefs, doesn't mean I = Catholic = Every sperm is sacred.

As far as Buffalo, weather will likely be key. Hoping the Tebow has played in snow before? Does anyone know? I just hope he's not doing snow angels on sidelines all game long.

IF we make the playoffs, would love for us to face the Steelers at home. I really don't like them.

Posted by Orange_and_Blue on 2011-12-20 10:03:51

Doug,

So, I had to jump through some fun hoops to get this working, couldn't register on the Disque site directly, had to do it through the register option here, then merge the emails and then sacrifice a chicken biscuit to the gods of Steak, said a few magic words and viola.

All i know for sure is that the link mentioned yesterday didn't work. An infinite loop of "register! your site here!"

Nothing to see here, moving alongPosted by SpaceCowboyInLG on 2011-12-20 10:02:30

I'm pretty sure you can change that by mousing over Disqus and selecting Edit ProfilePosted by Douglas Lee on 2011-12-20 09:54:05

The SPLC is objective enough that the FBI consults with them regularly about hate group activity, and considers them a valuable resource. They're a very serious and apolitical organization, doing really important work. They track and call out hate groups on all sides of the political spectrum; it just so happens that most of them in the US are on the right wing side. If you don't believe me, just take a look through their Hate Map. http://www.splcenter.org/get-i...

The SPLC's only critics seem to be political hucksters like Rush Limbaugh who seek to obliquely legitimize the activities of the SPLC-identified hate groups by trying to delegitimize the SPLC. Of course, they're selective in which hate groups they like; remember their howling about the New Black Panther Party? The SPLC classifies them as a hate group, and has a detailed profile on them. http://www.splcenter.org/get-i...

As Pierce noted in his excellent book Idiot America, something is now taken as a "fact" in this country if a lot of people believe it. That dovetails with the disturbing notion that if opposing viewpoints exist, there must be some validity to both. The SPLC is unobjective, except that it demonstrably isn't.Posted by Ted Bartlett on 2011-12-20 09:50:13

So,Posted by Eric Martin on 2011-12-20 09:44:37

"Bigotry-promoting hate group" is not a quote. Perhaps paraphrased, but I'll own them. And absolutely - I posted a link and wrote those words, so it's most certainly fair game.Posted by Douglas Lee on 2011-12-20 09:41:13

"Bigotry-promoting hate group" was not a quote. Those are my words. And, absolutely it's fair game to disagree because yes, I shared the link and wrote that.Posted by Douglas Lee on 2011-12-20 09:39:01

Let's get back to basics this week, and beat BUF! That would eliminate the bolts. :)Posted by Todd on 2011-12-20 09:24:28

Glad to hear it. If you go to edit your profile, you should see the option to claim all of your old comments (if you used the same email).Posted by David Singer on 2011-12-20 09:22:32

Thanks, glad you both like the new commenting system.Posted by David Singer on 2011-12-20 09:21:31

NM....got it working :)Posted by Todd on 2011-12-20 09:17:10

Trying to sign in with Yahoo ID isn't working. I got the email confirmation from Yahoo that info is being shared with Disqus, but it errors out when I try to log in here....Posted by Broncotodd on 2011-12-20 09:16:21

"Bigotry-promoting hate group"? Because the SPLC is clearly an objective source. Get real. And ZOMG, Tebow adheres to a brand of Christianity that disagrees with Catholic doctrine and seeks to "supplant" it. Pierce thinks this is a problem why? And oh noes, Tebow thinks that Christians have some obligation to defer to secular authority, I guess when JC himself said "render under Caeser" and all that, he was being "childish" and "silly" too. Because reconciling religious views with potentially-conflicting laws and government authority is not a difficult topic that has challenged a lot deeper thinkers than Pierce. Perhaps the wrong forum, but if it's going to be linked to, it's "fair game" to call this article out for the ill-thought out tripe that it is. BTW, no critique of Doug is intended here, I love his work. I just think Pierce is full of crap in this piece.Posted by Piglet on 2011-12-20 09:06:09

Thanks Doug. Comments working great. Even on Android.Posted by broncosmontana on 2011-12-20 09:02:26

The difficulty in dealing with comments on this site has been what has kept me being mostly a lurker. With this new system, I'm gonna be taking too much. Sorry, folks. But I LOVE IT! This site is gonna explode with traffic and content now, and get huge, because it is now the best Broncos site on the web.

Posted by HarvJNep2n on 2011-12-20 08:53:43

All this talk about the Pats being far superior to the Broncos, like they outplayed the hell out of us, is ridiculous. We beat the Pats last weekend, and then promptly beat ourselves. Without those turnovers, we win that game. We've gone from playing 1 quarter of football to playing 2 quarters of football. Now let's go for 4, eh?Posted by HarvJNep2n on 2011-12-20 08:51:23

I'm glad the official website guy agrees with me and ESPN on the clinching scenarios. It looks pretty good for the Broncos this week. (Really, I'm just testing out Disqus with this comment like everybody else.)Posted by Ted Bartlett on 2011-12-20 08:48:08

Thanks for the Lard, Doug. I've decided not to comment on the anti-Christian bias emanating from the staffers of this site. However, it is a bizarre world indeed when you or anyone thinks that Tebow's actions or beliefs are anything close to "hate".Posted by babsonjr on 2011-12-20 08:21:30

Seconded. Was very concerned seeing Bunkley splayed out on the field like that. Can't afford to lose him.

Also: Further Celebrating the new comments system!

Another note about the new commenting:

I can edit this all day long it appears. That's bound to lead to some kind of trollish-ness. Am I missing something here?Posted by nightshifte on 2011-12-20 07:55:06

Thanks Doug. Anyone seen any word on Bunkley?Posted by Ralph_W on 2011-12-20 07:47:40